Somewhat impossibly, Netflix has released the first The Killing season 4 trailer as well as a new poster.  The crime drama debuted on AMC in 2011 to solid reviews and ratings, but fans turned on the series when the story was stretched thin and the central mystery wasn’t solved until the end of the second season.  The show was cancelled, then AMC changed its mind and moved forward with season three.  The ratings continued to decline despite a creative upswing, and AMC subsequently cancelled the series again.  Enter Netflix, which then picked up the series for a fourth and final season consisting of six episodes, and we now have our first look at the show’s conclusion.  Season four picks up minutes after the season three finale, and sees Detectives Linden (Mireille Enos) and Holder (Joel Kinnaman) dealing with the aftermath of their decision while also working a new murder case involving an all-boys military academy, headed by Joan Allen’s Colonel Margaret Rayne.  Despite my frustration at some of the show’s weaker aspects, I’m curious to see how it all wraps up in these concluding episodes.

Hit the jump to check out the first The Killing season 4 trailer, as well as a debut poster.  The fourth season streams exclusively on Netflix starting August 1st.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Killing season 4:

The fourth and final season of THE KILLING picks up right after the season 3 finale.  As Detective Linden (Mireille Enos) and Detective Holder (Joel Kinnaman) struggle to manage the fallout from their rash actions at the end of last season, they are assigned a new case -- a picture perfect family is murdered, survived only by the son, Kyle Stansbury (Tyler Ross), who was shot in the head during the massacre.  Joan Allen guest stars this season as Colonel Margaret Rayne, the headmaster of the all-boys military academy where Kyle attends.  The new season also stars Gregg Henry, Sterling Beaumon and Levi Meaden.